Mongrel

Overview

The front door of Shuna’s family home acted as a gateway to Bangladesh. Nothing haram passed through this door, this was a devout house. When Shuna walked through this door, she switched her rebellious face to her pious face, which eagerly absorbed the teaching of the Prophet, striving to be a good Muslim girl. The switching between these two faces became increasingly difficult as they grew further and further apart. ‘Yes, yes, yes I’ll marry you!’ I said to David. Although, after the celestial shock wore off and dull reality set in, I realised there was a slight problem. I would have to tell my very traditional parents that I was going to marry a non-Muslim and confess my secret life. It’s my wedding day. My parents are absent. I’m not surprised. Why would my parents want to celebrate their daughter's eternal damnation in hell fire?

Reviews

"Told both by the hand and by the heart, Mongrel invites us behind closed doors and deep into the emotional and spiritual tumult dividing her family. In her exquisite, pertinent debut, Sayra Begum shares her singular, first-person intimacies to enable us all to experience and empathise with the world through a thoroughly modern Muslim's eyes." —Paul Gravett (Author of Graphic Novels: Stories to Change Your Life, 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die and Comics Art)

"Mongrel is an impressive and assured debut work from a new voice with a keen understanding of the singular opportunities and intricacies of comics narrative." —Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier 

"These kind of gems only come around every so often. I think of Blankets, by Craig Thompson, and Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, the last great books to take a look at religion in a significant graphic format." —Comics Grinder 

"A magical story and a stunning debut, Mongrel is book you must read and share." —Win Wiacek, Comics Review

"Family and people are family and people, no matter where we come from or travel to, after all. The cultural imperatives and strifes may be different but the song remains the same. A beautiful and emotionally honest work." —Joe Gordon, Down the Tubes

"This is Begum's first book but she has emerged as a fully-formed comic talent. Where the art really shines is in the layouts, which are bold and inventive. A powerful, deeply-personal outlook on a life." —Andy Shaw, Grovel

"Intimate, candid and powerful, Mongrel seamlessly incorporates the all too real difficulties people are forced to deal with and overcome into a story of loss and love. Recommended" —Tim Cundle, Mass Movement 

"Deceptively innocent, at once both simple and astounding, Mongrel is an endearing story of struggle told with an intensely honest and vulnerable voice." —Super Serious Comics

Author Biography

Sayra Begum is an artist based in Nottinghamshire (UK) with a BA in Illustration from Plymouth College of Art and an MA in Illustration: Authorial Practice from Falmouth University. Begum's work focuses on female and marginalised voices. Her style is inspired by Islamic miniatures and Surrealism. Mongrel started life during Begum's time at Falmouth and was at the centre of her creative practice until its completion in 2020. Mongrel is her first published work.